This is an excellent way to interact with the most prestigious conservative minds today. What a way to get fired up prior to the election.

If you are passionate about getting the country back on track and want to send a decisive message, this is an excellent opportunity. Put your passion to work beyond Real Jock. This will give you both the motivation and the ideas to be a part of the good change.

Spending a week interacting with people of like ideas and passion will be exhilarating.

I've been on a sister ship to the Veendam. Mid-size, not the newest, but they are all very well kept up, and Holland America has a reputation for excellent food.

HndsmKansan saidWe'll have to hope, with all those sharp minds, we don't have another"Concordia disaster".... haha

Holland America runs a tight ship and US regulations require a life boat drill before leaving port. But your "concern" is commendable.

If enough of us went, it would give you some quieter times on RJ, similar to when several of us took a week hiatus last September. You would have even more free time to spend in CERTAIN THREADS and interact with some of RJ's intellectual giants, which you seem to enjoy doing.

HndsmKansan saidWe'll have to hope, with all those sharp minds, we don't have another"Concordia disaster".... haha

Holland America runs a tight ship and US regulations require a life boat drill before leaving port. But your "concern" is commendable.

If enough of us went, it would give you some quieter times on RJ, similar to when several of us took a week hiatus last September. You would have even more free time to spend in CERTAIN THREADS and interact with some of RJ's intellectual giants, which you seem to enjoy doing.

Well John, I'm sure sure if you were talking to me or the "libs" on RJ in general. I'm pretty balanced, I spend time talking here in the political section and elsewhere.

Besides, Mister, I might enjoy a nice cruise and enjoy providing a bright light to an otherwise downer discussion.... LOL!

HndsmKansan saidWe'll have to hope, with all those sharp minds, we don't have another"Concordia disaster".... haha

disgusting

I have to say in his defense that he is a nice guy and I'm positive he did not make the comment in a mean-spirited way. It is an enigma that someone who deals with finance, albeit at the personal level, would support the disastrous policies of this administration. But guys like Krugman exist, so there is ample evidence that ideology can trump intelligence. But the intelligence only applies to a certain select group of RJ liberals, so in the main, there is no conflict between ideology and intelligence. It's pure, dumb ideology.

HndsmKansan saidWe'll have to hope, with all those sharp minds, we don't have another"Concordia disaster".... haha

disgusting

I have to say in his defense that he is a nice guy and I'm positive he did not make the comment in a mean-spirited way. It is an enigma that someone who deals with finance, albeit at the personal level, would support the disastrous policies of this administration. But guys like Krugman exist, so there is ample evidence that ideology can trump intelligence. But the intelligence only applies to a certain select group of RJ liberals, so in the main, there is no conflict between ideology and intelligence. It's pure, dumb ideology.

John, probably would be prudent to avoid such an analysis.... you might end up in the center of another flame war. I certainly could make the same assertion about you and your education. Lets say that we have different viewpoints based on education, experience and upbringing......And an effort made to respect the views of the other... no matter how twisted.

HndsmKansan saidWe'll have to hope, with all those sharp minds, we don't have another"Concordia disaster".... haha

disgusting

I have to say in his defense that he is a nice guy and I'm positive he did not make the comment in a mean-spirited way. It is an enigma that someone who deals with finance, albeit at the personal level, would support the disastrous policies of this administration. But guys like Krugman exist, so there is ample evidence that ideology can trump intelligence. But the intelligence only applies to a certain select group of RJ liberals, so in the main, there is no conflict between ideology and intelligence. It's pure, dumb ideology.

John, probably would be prudent to avoid such an analysis.... you might end up in the center of another flame war. I certainly could make the same assertion about you and your education. Lets say that we have different viewpoints based on education, experience and upbringing......And an effort made to respect the views of the other... no matter how twisted.

HndsmKansan saidWe'll have to hope, with all those sharp minds, we don't have another"Concordia disaster".... haha

disgusting

I have to say in his defense that he is a nice guy and I'm positive he did not make the comment in a mean-spirited way. It is an enigma that someone who deals with finance, albeit at the personal level, would support the disastrous policies of this administration. But guys like Krugman exist, so there is ample evidence that ideology can trump intelligence. But the intelligence only applies to a certain select group of RJ liberals, so in the main, there is no conflict between ideology and intelligence. It's pure, dumb ideology.

John, probably would be prudent to avoid such an analysis.... you might end up in the center of another flame war. I certainly could make the same assertion about you and your education. Lets say that we have different viewpoints based on education, experience and upbringing......And an effort made to respect the views of the other... no matter how twisted.

I didn't consider my comments derogatory towards you at all. In fact I was indirectly comparing you to Krugman, who certainly has academic credentials.

HndsmKansan saidWe'll have to hope, with all those sharp minds, we don't have another"Concordia disaster".... haha

disgusting

I have to say in his defense that he is a nice guy and I'm positive he did not make the comment in a mean-spirited way. It is an enigma that someone who deals with finance, albeit at the personal level, would support the disastrous policies of this administration. But guys like Krugman exist, so there is ample evidence that ideology can trump intelligence. But the intelligence only applies to a certain select group of RJ liberals, so in the main, there is no conflict between ideology and intelligence. It's pure, dumb ideology.

John, probably would be prudent to avoid such an analysis.... you might end up in the center of another flame war. I certainly could make the same assertion about you and your education. Lets say that we have different viewpoints based on education, experience and upbringing......And an effort made to respect the views of the other... no matter how twisted.

I didn't consider my comments derogatory towards you at all. In fact I was indirectly comparing you to Krugman, who certainly has academic credentials.

I do not think Krugman or any other human is above starting with a core belief then using there intelligence to make a argument to support it.

HndsmKansan saidWe'll have to hope, with all those sharp minds, we don't have another"Concordia disaster".... haha

disgusting

I have to say in his defense that he is a nice guy and I'm positive he did not make the comment in a mean-spirited way. It is an enigma that someone who deals with finance, albeit at the personal level, would support the disastrous policies of this administration. But guys like Krugman exist, so there is ample evidence that ideology can trump intelligence. But the intelligence only applies to a certain select group of RJ liberals, so in the main, there is no conflict between ideology and intelligence. It's pure, dumb ideology.

John, probably would be prudent to avoid such an analysis.... you might end up in the center of another flame war. I certainly could make the same assertion about you and your education. Lets say that we have different viewpoints based on education, experience and upbringing......And an effort made to respect the views of the other... no matter how twisted.

I didn't consider my comments derogatory towards you at all. In fact I was indirectly comparing you to Krugman, who certainly has academic credentials.

I do not think Krugman or any other human is above starting with a core belief then using there intelligence to make a argument to support it.

Just because he is intelligent does not make him unbiased.

Agree completely. An interesting way both sides look at the failure of socialist type policies in Europe is indicative of this effect. Aside from Scandinavia, which enjoys abundant natural resources relative to a sparse population, the policies repeatedly fail. Germany is better than some because of their work ethic, and they have kept employment higher than other countries by reducing the hours worked to minimize layoffs.

You cannot absolutely prove or disprove either view, but those who favor socialist policies point to differences between each of the individual failures in Europe compared to the US and say the examples are not relevant. Those who oppose socialist policies point to fundamental patterns in these countries such as high taxes, union influence, big government, disincentives applied to the private sector, lavish entitlements, and runaway debt.

Why any gay man would want to go on a cruise with the most vitriolic and loathsome elements of the American political establishment is hard to fantom. These are the people who launched a disastrous war in Iraq and are now advocating to launch a war against Iran, who seek to deprive the LGBT community of their rights, who aim to dismantle not just the social contract that the New Deal ushered in but laws that date to the Progressive era and even as far back as the 1830s, who pine for an America where only rich white people are entitled to direct the nation's affairs, who led the assault on civil liberties during the Bush Administration, who seek to erase any regulatory power that the Federal government has so as to further protect their corporate benefactors and who advocate the very policies that favor the super-wealthy that have led to the greatest levels of inequality and poverty since the 1930s.

What has the neoconservative William Kristol ever been right about? He is a farce, an intellectual deadweight who trolls for a propaganda network that does little more than push a right-wing narrative that is not only vile and hateful but entirely fictional. Here is a man whose tenure at the New York Times was thankfully short-lived, fired for being an ignoramus. How embarrassing it must have been that his very first column required an erratum because true to form Kristol was wrong on the facts.

Fred Barnes is another joke.

This isn't travel with any erudite deep analytical thinkers, it's a journey of the self-delusional, sycophantic, self-serving, war-mongering, well-connected pseudo-intellectuals with an agenda that is nihilistic, regressive, authoritarian and unAmerican.

socalfitness saidthose who favor socialist policies point to differences between each of the individual failures in Europe compared to the US and say the examples are not relevant.

Because the US is not like countries in the European Union in more ways that one can list here.

Q.E.D.

Tell us, John. How is the US like the European Union and it's countries in terms of natural resources, economic model, human capital. Is the Euro suddenly the reserve currency of the world? How much of Europe's debt is owed to itself?

socalfitness saidthose who favor socialist policies point to differences between each of the individual failures in Europe compared to the US and say the examples are not relevant.

Because the US is not like countries in the European Union in more ways that one can list here.

Q.E.D.

Tell us, John. How is the US like the European Union and it's countries in terms of natural resources, economic model, human capital. Is the Euro suddenly the reserve currency of the world? How much of Europe's debt is owed to itself?

We'll start there and work back to commonalities.

You can focus on the differences because you can't face the fact that a society with characteristics you embrace:high taxes, union influence,big government, disincentives applied to the private sector, lavish entitlements, and runaway debt.

JPtheBITCH saidI cannot think of any prospect more horrifying than being trapped on a ship for a week with rabid right-wingers. The politics would be bad enough, but the continual dropping of water balloons off the balconies would get old very quickly. Also, the fezzes really do look ridiculous.

I won't be on a cruise ship anytime soon... in fact, I'm waiting til they make some changes to keep innocent people from getting killed. Albeit understandable the inability to control psychotic pirates and deck boarding dirrty wayz!